The problem of grave dissent among some of the clergy, chaplains and teachers in the Archdiocese of Liverpool

By Deacon Nick Donnelly, on February 25th, 2014

The following exchange between readers on Protect the Pope provides an insight into the tragic problem of dissent among some of the clergy, chaplains and teachers in the Archdiocese of Liverpool. The most shocking example of dissent is related by Louis who tells of a Catholic lay chaplain at an FE college (not Catholic), installed in the presence of one of the auxiliary bishops, who is for women’s ordination and pro-choice on abortion – and ‘proud of her compassion’.Louis writes .’The FE chaplain I talked about was not appointed by the diocese. The presence of the auxiliary bishop at her installation only gave credence to the woman as a Catholic in good standing. I completely fail to see how a Catholic can accompany a student to an abortion clinic, not once, but twice, and retell the events to a class of students as an example of compassionate Christian pastoral support. Her pathological hatred of Benedict XVI is quite evident.’

I posted this some days ago – I’m sorry but it seems more relevant than ever today!

“And yet another one crawls out of the woodwork – this Bishop is 90, Bishop Maurice Taylor is 88; why will they not the leave the Church to move forward organically rather than trying to retreat us back to 1970! And please, as a humble layman of the Archdiocese of Liverpool why, oh why, do we keep getting these ‘has-beens’ retiring here? As I believe Bishop Colin Davies MHM has.

Liverpool truly is a diocese of the 1970s, which is a tremendous pity as it was once an illustrious diocese within whose boundaries were raised many martyrs for the One True Faith. Their descendants have forsaken their memory; families once steadfast have gone away, allured by the world’s false treasures: abortion, contraception, euthanasia, homosexuality, pre-marital sex and co-habitation etc all defendended, even amongst my own family and firends as being enlightened and the way forward. Every aspect of life in the Archdiocese under ++ Worlock and ++ Kelly has become a disaster zone. The only thing that could be said for the former was that he maintained a certain discipline and fear amongst the clergy. Under the latter there has been no discipline whatsoever. Every priest is his own pope.

The clergy are mostly to blame – those between their late 50′s and death! Those lukeward in their reception of Pope Benedict are now positively wetting thesleves over the current pontificate.

if only for the adulation heaped upon the Archbishop of Canterbury for his ‘English’ way of doing things (there will be no Rome here!)

“To me, our “Mother Culture” would mean our English way of doing things. I came across a beautiful homily preached by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Justin Welby. last Sunday in Sandringham, in the presence of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. I reproduce a little of it below to give a flavour of it….”

Also worth noting from the blog:

“At this point one is forced to ask the question – “Why the complete change?” and all of this without decrying Pope Benedict, and the many pious and holy men holding this highest office, by even one iota. Perhaps, God perceived the need to bring the papacy more into line with modern thinking, modern methods, modern ideas, but without losing any of the Church’s tradition, in terms of faith and morals. We do not know God’s mind and so do not know the answers to some of these questions – only time will tell.”

Just read it – it is completely doo-lally (again that’s my opinion) because they are trying to infer the current papacy is breaking down dogma and doctrine, which clearly (at the moment!!!) it is not.

The recitation of this prayer by the English, most surely can do us no harm at all!

O MERCIFUL God, let the glorious intercession of Thy saints assist us, particularly the most blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Thy only-begotten Son, and Thy holy Apostles, Peter and Paul, to whose patronage we humbly recommend this country. Be mindful of our fathers, Eleutherius, Celestine, and Gregory, bishops of the Holy City; of Augustine, Columba, and Aidan, who delivered to us inviolate the faith of the Holy Roman Church. Remember our holy martyrs, who shed their blood for Christ: especially our first martyr, Saint Alban, and Thy most glorious bishop, Saint Thomas of Canterbury. Remember all those holy confessors; bishops, and kings, all those holy monks and hermits, all those holy virgins and widows, who made this once an island of saints, illustrious by their glorious merits and virtues. Let not their memory perish from before Thee, O Lord, but let their supplication enter daily into Thy sight; and do Thou, who didst so often spare Thy sinful people for the sake of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, now, also, moved by the prayers of our fathers, reigning with Thee, have mercy upon us, save Thy people, and bless Thy inheritance; and suffer not those souls to perish, which Thy Son hath redeemed with His own most Precious Blood, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, world without end. Amen.”

Sadly, I think it is a reflection of the Archdiocese. Ok I think the Parish in question may be at the high end of the modernist scale but nevertheless when you look around the AD of Liverpool there is little in the way of orthodoxy. The very few priests who raise their heads above the parapet have to stand an awful lot of mud slung at the them. Whilst those of the Parish discussed above are left to freely do what they want. The vast majority of parishes inbetween (I’m afraid) are neither here nor there, as catechesis is so poor and the young aren’t even there to haemorrhage.

I’m sorry people will have read my posts before and may think I’m a defeatist – I can assure you I’m not. I work hard in a parish to ensure the voice of orthodxy is heard. However, my own family – reared and raised in the Faith – have had it throttled out of them. Their children are being raised with no ‘Catholic’ emphasis whatsoever. They have even sent them to a local CofE high school because the education is better. I’m embarrased and ashamed to say that the RE content is better there than in the local feeder Catholic High School (and would it surprise you to know that, its the High School attached to the above parish). When I attended there in the 1980s there were 1200 pupils on roll. The chaplain is a lay-chaplain and to be quite frank with you he might as well be Charlie Chaplain because none of them are listening anyway and walk away believing little, if nothing, of what the Church teaches. This is aided and abetted by many of the local clergy.

A very sad state of affairs indeed and if what has been suggested that Bishop Kieran Conry may be the next incumbent of Liverpool then we might as well put the closed and for sale signs up on all our church doors. I also believe that the ‘liberal’ Liverpool clergy mounted a whispering campaign against Bishop Mark Davies to try and ensure that he wasn’t translated from Shrewsbury. We need a lion defender of the Faith here now as the last two incumbents (and their auxillaries) have both been complete disasters and Archbishop Beck before them just wasn’t up to the job, that’s been fifty years without any faithful leadership. It’s hard to see how things can be turned around.

Clifford Longley has documented the level of dissent that took place in Liverpool when Archbishop Worlock was there.I believe his secretary was one Vincent Nichols. Worlock had his eye on Westminster for himself. What a twist of irony.

If St. Peter or St. Paul were alive would they have reacted this way? Of course not. It’s difficult to believe that many of our Bishops are successors to the Apostles. They make the reformation Bishops look good. Never mind about the liberals starting a “new organisation” it’s more like ACTA is a coming out party for all the rottenness amongst lay workers and the worst elements of our clergy.

Alan, Angeline, Louis, Margaret, thanks for all the details. It’s a real eye-opener.

I believe that the late 17th Duke of Norfolk KG GCVO CB CBE MC DL(Christ Church and the Grenadiers) took one brief interview with AB Worlock (1920-96) and did not like the “cut of his jib” one bit…….and lobbied hard for Basil Hume for the ADW.

Truly -the Catholic church in England and Wales only has one major problem -its own bishops.

We know we can find excellent loyal, obedient and educated men in our priesthood……..we need 10-15 of the highest quality and Faith and within 5 years of their elevation you would see a great difference.

We are now seeing the dire results of mediocrity in key positions appointed in the last 15 years or so.

Many thanks ….but encomiums undeserved because as Basil Fawlty famously said:”It’s a statement of the bleedin’ obvious , Sybil”

Wonder naughtily what the Nuncio’s true opinions of our Catholic episcopate might be.
Do we really have to wait for the death throes of the “Spirit of Vat2″ to play out before new scenery is wheeled on stage?
I long for two , maybe three straight talking imported Aussies or Kiwis as bishops-loyal and traditional-who have a 5-7 year remit in the UK before an Archdiocese back home beckons.
Outside the Magic Circle of England and Wales and prepared to “kick crozier”.
After all , in days of Empire priests of Westminster , Liverpool and Birmingham went as missionaries……why not reverse the flow for a bit?
Better than our current “Fifteen Shades of Grey,” perhaps?